On 19 March 2023, H.E. Mr. Puttaporn Ewtoksan, Ambassador of Thailand to Egypt, along with Ambassadors of the ASEAN Committee in Cairo (ACC), participated in the “Brown Bag Session on ASEAN” at the Mary Cross Lecture Hall, The American University in Cairo (AUC). There were around 30 students attending the said event. The Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Egypt as the ACC Chair made a presentation about ASEAN and the AUC Provost delivered welcoming remarks.

The Thai Ambassador highlighted ASEAN way which upholds informality, consultation, consensus, and peaceful settlement of dispute and ASEAN centrality which lays out how ASEAN engage with other countries through ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Furthermore, as Thailand is ASEAN Coordinator on Sustainable Development Cooperation, the Ambassador shared the role of ASEAN in promoting sustainable development by issuing the ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to COP27 in support of Egypt’s presidency of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP27) last year. He also underlined important ASEAN mechanisms such as the High-Level Brainstorming Dialogue on the Complementarities Initiative and the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue in Bangkok.

The “Brown Bag Session on ASEAN” is initiated by Thailand and co-organized by the ASEAN Committee in Cairo and the American University in Cairo with the view to raise awareness about ASEAN in leading universities in Egypt.